Oct. 2, 2023
Bubble, Bubble, Breathe - SwimSmooth Founder & Champion Paul Newsome, EP 229
Imagine finding a treasure chest brimming with secrets to refine your swimming technique and endurance. Well, we’ve got something better than that - a chat with the Technique Genius, Paul Newsome, the founder of SwimSmooth and the pioneer of that transformational swimming program. We journey from his successful English Channel swim to understanding the mantra that keeps swimmers focused in the water, "bubble, bubble breathe."
You'll hear how Paul helped Kelly drop major time. Dive into Paul’s passion for coaching as we traverse from a 50-meter pool to the swells of the Swim Around Manhattan. Discover how a proper wet suit fitting can maximize a swimmer's performance and how concentrating on one stroke at a time is the mantra for finishing races.
Ever wondered about the role self-belief plays in the swimming world? Paul delves into the depths of the power of self-belief, the significance of consistency, and the importance of leading by example. He provides insights into his effective eight-week training program that has been a game changer for swimmers worldwide. Plus, there's an unexpected surprise - Paul shares about his past appearance on a UK dating show! Don't miss out on this enlightening and entertaining conversation that will surely leave you inspired to jump into the water and swim smoother and faster!
UPDATE on Paul's "Upcoming Swim" we refer to in the interview. HE WON https://ultraswim333.com/ - 33.3km over 4 days in the Adriatic in Montenegro! Congratulations Paul!
Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.
Chapters
00:01 - Swim Smooth
09:26 - Passion for Coaching and Endurance Sports
15:21 - Open Water Swimming Techniques and Tips
27:13 - The Importance of Self-Belief and Consistency
32:18 - Improving Swimming Skills and Setting Benchmarks
44:51 - Consistent 20-Minute Swim Routine
Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:01.423 --> 00:00:06.232
Welcome to the award-winning Champions Mojo hosted by two world record-holding athletes.
00:00:06.232 --> 00:00:13.769
Be inspired as you listen to conversations with champions and now your hosts, kelly Palace and Maria Parker.
00:00:15.843 --> 00:00:19.268
Hello friends, welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast.
00:00:19.268 --> 00:00:23.989
I'm your host, kelly Palace, and as usual, I am co-hosting with Maria Parker.
00:00:23.989 --> 00:00:31.809
Hey Maria, hey Kelly, it's great to be here with you today, great to see you, and what a treat we are in for today.
00:00:31.809 --> 00:00:38.270
Our special guest today is world-renowned swim coach Paul Newsom.
00:00:38.270 --> 00:00:50.104
All the way from Perth, australia, paul is the founder of SwimSmooth and if you don't know about SwimSmooth, you are really going to want to check this out and listen to this show.
00:00:50.104 --> 00:00:53.188
Paul is a former professional triathlete.
00:00:53.188 --> 00:01:10.204
He raced as part of the British world-class triathlon program while he was studying sports and exercise science at the University of Bath, and you are going to love the story of how Paul helped my own swimming performance from the other side of the world.
00:01:10.204 --> 00:01:17.653
We'll get to that later, but Paul is not only an amazing coach, he's an accomplished athlete himself.
00:01:17.653 --> 00:01:19.686
Maria, can you share more about Paul?
00:01:20.266 --> 00:01:29.528
Yes, Paul is an open water specialist who successfully completed the English Channel on 9 September 2011 in 12 hours and 14 minutes.
00:01:29.528 --> 00:01:36.084
He's completed the Rottenness Channel Swim four times, as well as won the 2013 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.
00:01:36.084 --> 00:01:42.683
He also just completed his fifth Rottenness Crossing and, after 14 years of trying, finally broke five hours.
00:01:42.683 --> 00:01:43.647
Wow.
00:01:43.647 --> 00:01:50.992
Last year he won the Ultra Swim 33.3 in Montenegro and will be trying to defend his title here in a few weeks.
00:01:50.992 --> 00:01:52.013
But there's a lot more.
00:01:52.013 --> 00:01:53.745
Let's just get to Paul.
00:01:53.745 --> 00:01:55.284
Paul, welcome to Champions Mojo.
00:01:56.061 --> 00:01:57.246
Thanks so much for having me on.
00:01:57.246 --> 00:01:58.644
It's really great to be here.
00:01:58.644 --> 00:01:59.365
You are amazing.
00:02:00.147 --> 00:02:00.870
Yes, yes.
00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:04.728
So, Paul, first I've got to start with a little story of how we found you.
00:02:04.728 --> 00:02:07.106
How are you on the other side of the world?
00:02:07.106 --> 00:02:19.804
It's nighttime here and you're fresh in the morning, but we had to talk with you because my friends, my family, my swimming community all they've heard lately is Paul Newsome and Swim Smooth.
00:02:19.804 --> 00:02:22.508
It's literally like what is going on with Kelly.
00:02:22.508 --> 00:02:32.813
And now we have even more to tell as part of the story, because most of our listeners know that I just came off of our US Masters National Championship where I won five titles.
00:02:32.813 --> 00:02:35.788
I dropped all kinds of times.
00:02:35.788 --> 00:02:41.764
The time you swim and you look up at the board and you're like, did I really just drop 20 seconds in my 800?
00:02:41.764 --> 00:02:44.247
And so I am not kidding.
00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:46.366
And you're the middle of your age group.
00:02:46.366 --> 00:02:47.248
So this is an age group.
00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:49.804
And I'm the middle of my age group, which is even nicer, I didn't just age up.
00:02:49.804 --> 00:02:57.674
But in all seriousness, yes, we all have a team and when an athlete performs well, they have to work hard, they have to put in the work.
00:02:57.674 --> 00:03:01.051
But what this episode besides?
00:03:01.051 --> 00:03:04.884
We want to learn about what makes you a champion and what you think makes champions.
00:03:04.884 --> 00:03:14.730
But we also, I have finally realized how important, even at the top level of the sport, how important technique is.
00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:23.074
I think that I had been taking it for granted, but it was your videos, your swim smooth videos.
00:03:23.074 --> 00:03:30.231
Of watching those videos, I realized that I was doing something terribly wrong in my stroke.
00:03:30.231 --> 00:03:35.612
I had just somehow beared off the path of what really was my normal stroke.
00:03:35.612 --> 00:03:37.507
So I started doing a catch up stroke.
00:03:37.507 --> 00:03:40.407
I stopped doing my normal two beat kick.
00:03:40.407 --> 00:03:48.871
I started to try to do a six beat kick with a catch up stroke because, hey, I wanted to look like Katie Ledecky or Michael Phelps or the Olympian.
00:03:48.871 --> 00:03:50.526
So I watched your videos.
00:03:50.819 --> 00:04:04.658
You succinctly, scientifically told, very easy to understand, how those things that we're changing in our stroke can slow us down and we're looking at that every night literally made the change.
00:04:04.658 --> 00:04:10.567
In one night I was swimming the 1500 the next day and I dropped 45 seconds in that 1500.
00:04:10.567 --> 00:04:13.343
Then two weeks later, I had this national's result.
00:04:13.343 --> 00:04:16.865
It's because I am using your techniques.
00:04:16.865 --> 00:04:23.161
That's the long-winded story of why we're so excited about you, why we're so excited about Swim Smooth.
00:04:23.161 --> 00:04:25.682
Can you just give us some background?
00:04:25.682 --> 00:04:28.877
What Swim Smooth is, how?
00:04:28.877 --> 00:04:30.684
This is a revolutionary thing.
00:04:30.684 --> 00:04:33.742
I really believe it is where it started and where you are today.
00:04:34.516 --> 00:04:35.278
Thanks for that much, kelly.
00:04:35.278 --> 00:04:36.382
That's an amazing introduction.
00:04:36.382 --> 00:04:39.975
When you emailed me and reached out to me telling me that result, I was absolutely thrilled.
00:04:39.975 --> 00:04:44.639
It's great to hear from anybody who's been following our information around the world and how they've been.
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:48.855
I was telling all my swim squad that I've got this lady over in America.
00:04:48.855 --> 00:04:55.040
She's just done this 1500-minute time long course, 50 meters and just over 20 minutes, 20 minutes and 13 seconds.
00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:01.781
We were all working out the average pace at that, because my squad work a lot off-pacing, as I'm sure your programs do as well.
00:05:01.781 --> 00:05:04.084
I was saying she's 62 years of age.
00:05:04.084 --> 00:05:07.295
She's averaging just over 120 for 100 for 1500 freestyle.
00:05:07.295 --> 00:05:09.223
Everyone's like, oh my God, oh my God, this is amazing.
00:05:09.223 --> 00:05:10.439
It was truly amazing.
00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:16.480
You were very kind in your introduction there to say that I've put together this logical, scientific approach and it was succinct, et cetera.
00:05:17.137 --> 00:05:28.574
A lot of the feedback that we've been getting is that the videos were actually just simply too long and we haven't been able to actually watch all the way through them, which is slightly disappointing really, because when you think about it, you spend an hour and a half in your training sessions.
00:05:28.574 --> 00:05:40.721
The longest video I've put out there is 30 minutes, if you think you can revolutionize and transform your swim session in 30 minutes in the pool and you're telling somebody that you can do that through a video, surely you'd actually listen into that.
00:05:40.721 --> 00:05:46.144
I think I hear from swimmers all the time and this is just going back to your question about how did this all start.
00:05:46.144 --> 00:05:58.322
I've always had the belief that people have actually been bombarded with so much information whether it's from a friend, another coach, something they've seen on TV or what have you and people come into swimming very confused.
00:05:58.322 --> 00:06:01.283
They're not sure what stroke works well for them.
00:06:01.283 --> 00:06:06.040
They've heard this bit of information, that bit of information, but fortunately that's only got works over the years.
00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:22.201
With social media I'm not to sing any of the influences out there and stuff like that, but when you've got to cram your information into 60 seconds and make it look pretty and you're scrolling through your phone and seeing all these images and all these bits of advice, it can become really quite overwhelming for people to see that and to try to take it on board.
00:06:22.201 --> 00:06:29.245
And what I wanted to do was just simply cut through the clutter with those that were my most recent five Stroke Correction hierarchy series.
00:06:29.245 --> 00:06:33.343
Just cut through that clutter and just say, hey, look, here's the evidence, here's the science, here's the logic.
00:06:33.343 --> 00:06:34.959
This is what I recommend you do.
00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:37.860
Go away and do it, and so I'm really glad.
00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:45.314
If you're the only person who's actually watched All the Way Brutes, that particular video and it's made a difference like that, then I'm happy with that.
00:06:45.314 --> 00:06:47.134
It's been well worth the effort of the biggie.
00:06:47.276 --> 00:06:50.095
Yeah, and Swimsuit was literally just born out of that.
00:06:50.095 --> 00:06:55.846
I created the program in 2004, so we're nearly 20 years old now, and I was just on the pool deck.
00:06:55.846 --> 00:06:57.656
On that pool deck right behind me in the video.
00:06:57.656 --> 00:07:03.346
If anybody's seeing this snippet, it's Challenge Stadium and it's been used for two world championship events.
00:07:03.346 --> 00:07:08.095
An amazing facility, three 50-meter swim calls all in the same facility.
00:07:08.095 --> 00:07:15.783
And when I arrived over here as a long-haired backpacker with a big beard and my beads on, I'd just be traveling around in near and southeast Asia.
00:07:15.783 --> 00:07:17.754
Somebody said you've got to go and see this facility.
00:07:17.754 --> 00:07:19.581
It's just the most amazing place.
00:07:19.581 --> 00:07:28.293
And I rocked up there and, sure enough, I was just blown away by it and luckily I got offered a job as the local triathlon coach and we had quite a big program.
00:07:28.293 --> 00:07:43.505
There's about 360 athletes in that program and just over the years, I've started to develop a way of coaching, if you like, a way of actually transferring that knowledge across to people, and I came up with this idea in 2004 that I wanted to be able to showcase those learnings in a video format.
00:07:43.795 --> 00:07:51.504
And, bearing in mind, this is way before YouTube or certainly before Instagram I actually came up with the idea of actually creating a three-part DVD series.
00:07:51.504 --> 00:07:53.420
It's like a DVD box set.
00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:58.461
And my mom came over from the UK and she said to me what are you going to do with the rest of your life, paul?
00:07:58.461 --> 00:08:00.081
You work into the local triathlon club.
00:08:00.081 --> 00:08:01.762
They're paying you $125 a week.
00:08:01.762 --> 00:08:03.502
You can't keep doing that for the rest of your life.
00:08:03.502 --> 00:08:05.141
I said I've got to have this idea.
00:08:05.141 --> 00:08:06.634
I want to create something.
00:08:06.634 --> 00:08:09.560
I want to put something out there, some videos that are going to help people.
00:08:10.074 --> 00:08:18.944
And the initial idea behind this was just to simply make sure that the swimmers in our squad knew why we were doing the techniques and why we're doing those drills.
00:08:18.944 --> 00:08:33.390
And she loaned me some money at $4,000 right back in the day, 2004, to actually put this DVD together and I was hoping to maybe sell 100 copies or something like that, and over the years I think we've sold 150,000 copies of that DVD box set.
00:08:33.390 --> 00:08:41.284
It's really just snowballed and it's really funny because just 20 years ago everyone's into online streaming now, but we still get extra people.
00:08:41.284 --> 00:08:44.544
Can you do a reprint of the original Swimmers Through DVD box set?
00:08:44.544 --> 00:08:46.571
I think it looks really nasty.
00:08:46.571 --> 00:08:49.563
To be honest, the audio quality is absolutely terrible.
00:08:49.563 --> 00:08:54.764
I look obviously a lot younger than I do right now, but the concept was to actually put this together.
00:08:54.764 --> 00:09:02.121
We had the Olympic gold medalist, bill Kirby from Hearing, but he was actually demonstrating all of the drills and we had 35 different drills on there.
00:09:02.121 --> 00:09:14.500
But we also showcased genuine footage and this is really quite important because a lot of times, people putting out videos saying, ok, don't do this and you'll see them actually doing the fault themselves, but it's not a genuine fault.
00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:22.546
What I wanted to do was actually get a whole host of genuine Swimmers doing stuff wrong that we can all relate to and then show them how to actually fix that.
00:09:22.546 --> 00:09:26.544
And by putting out this DVD box set again, quite a bit of reputation.
00:09:26.957 --> 00:09:37.960
Coaches started following what we're doing and that's where my biggest passion really is actually helping other coaches, help other Swimmers improve their own coaching, to actually help with that and, yeah, we just around out.
00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:47.682
In 2010, we got approached by British Triathlon and they said look, we want to use your coaching curriculum with all of our coaches in the UK and that's about 3,500 coaches.
00:09:47.682 --> 00:09:58.585
And four years later, in 2014, the International Triathlon Union our core, world Triathlon contacted us and said we want to use your methodology in 119 countries around the world.
00:09:58.585 --> 00:10:01.355
So that's where it went to from there, which is really nice.
00:10:01.355 --> 00:10:07.505
And it just started in this little pool in the background Not really a little pool, 50 meters, but nonetheless it started here.
00:10:08.398 --> 00:10:32.554
But not only is the proof in the putting and I remember Kelly describing you were able in your video to describe something very clearly, very succinctly, very simply that actually that Kelly went the next day and put into practice and took an amazing amount of time, but you also are able using your own techniques, I would assume to still be an amazing athlete yourself.
00:10:32.554 --> 00:10:36.490
So I think that says a lot for what you're doing and I love your passion for helping coaches.
00:10:37.296 --> 00:10:37.856
Thanks, marie.
00:10:37.856 --> 00:10:43.729
The interesting thing when I finished that race in Manhattan, I've got to say, kelly, manhattan is my favorite city in the whole planet.
00:10:43.729 --> 00:10:47.263
If I could live there, I would move there in a heartbeat.
00:10:47.263 --> 00:10:54.827
I love the place, absolutely love it I think it's all childhood movies watching it, stuff To have the opportunity to swim around there.
00:10:54.868 --> 00:11:02.394
In 2013, they'd actually ranked this 48 swimmer swimming and they had you have to have some of the English Channel to have done it.
00:11:02.394 --> 00:11:05.434
So that's why I did the English Channel in 2011 so I could do the Manhattan Swims.
00:11:05.434 --> 00:11:11.107
So two years later, we had to write us five thousand words say why we wanted to swim around New York.
00:11:11.107 --> 00:11:12.163
Wow, it was part of the.
00:11:12.163 --> 00:11:13.115
That was part of the entrance.
00:11:13.115 --> 00:11:16.024
It wasn't just sign up, pay us your money and let's do it.
00:11:16.024 --> 00:11:20.414
It was like no riders of five thousand would essay or why you want to swim around Manhattan.
00:11:20.434 --> 00:11:24.490
And I remember Maria reaching out and I didn't expect to win the event.
00:11:24.490 --> 00:11:25.734
They'd ranked me fourth.
00:11:25.734 --> 00:11:37.724
I don't know how they did that, but they expected me to finish fourth from that particular swim and I took over the lead after about two and a half hours and it's a seven hour swim, which is great when you work out the average pace of that.
00:11:37.724 --> 00:11:50.205
Ahmed have newies just swung an average of fifty eight point oh, eight seconds for the men's fifteen hundred at the world championships and my average pay, my average pace, there was Fifty eight seconds around Manhattan, but that's because of the wow.
00:11:51.056 --> 00:11:54.866
Wow, wow, so, yeah, so that was pretty good.
00:11:54.866 --> 00:11:58.274
I just remember Maria reaching out to the yeah, there's like a basic finishing boy.
00:11:58.274 --> 00:12:04.942
I reached out and touched the finishing boy at the end of the 48 kilometers I think it is and I just thought you know what I've?
00:12:04.942 --> 00:12:18.658
The program that I've followed so I should get around and win this race is the program that I've been using at that point for ten years with the swimmers up in coaching and it felt like it was a real, almost like a validation of what I've done, because the guy who finished second, he had a great swim.
00:12:18.658 --> 00:12:23.250
He was swimming a hundred and twenty kilometers per week in the training leading up to that.
00:12:23.331 --> 00:12:34.740
And I've got a young family you might have even just heard one or two of them just trying to say goodbye to me because they're off to school and the most I could fit in was about 35 to 40 classes training per week, and I think it's really important.
00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:36.524
You mentioned Kelly earlier on about technique.
00:12:36.524 --> 00:12:42.506
That's very important, and so too is your approach to the type of training you do and how much frequency volume you get in as well.
00:12:43.298 --> 00:12:45.654
Yes, that race is so elite.
00:12:45.654 --> 00:12:51.134
I know people that have done it and it is like one of the crown jewels of being an open water swimmer.
00:12:51.134 --> 00:12:55.971
So 28 miles and you are only training 35k a week for that.
00:12:56.011 --> 00:12:56.975
Yes, it's all I could fit in.
00:12:56.975 --> 00:13:06.674
I was running a business, my so 2013, my son would have been four and my daughter would have been what she had been should have been less than two years old when I was actually training for that.
00:13:06.674 --> 00:13:08.681
So you can imagine having a four-year-old and a two-year-old.
00:13:08.681 --> 00:13:11.860
My wife's a physiotherapist, so she's got her own business as well.
00:13:11.860 --> 00:13:13.104
I'm running my coaching.
00:13:13.104 --> 00:13:13.625
On a bull day.
00:13:13.995 --> 00:13:29.687
There's just simply no way that I could do the sort of volumes that I really wanted to do, so I just have to become really smart with the type of training that I was doing, and that's exactly what I did, and really that's that result there by far and away my best result in swimming as a kid you mentioned earlier on.
00:13:29.708 --> 00:13:37.761
Kelly, again, I really appreciate the sentiment you said about how you watch this one video and it transformed your swimming, but the reality is probably what that video really did.
00:13:37.761 --> 00:13:40.967
Was it just brought you back to where you should have been as an individual swimmer.
00:13:40.967 --> 00:13:43.995
You've got, you've done the hard yards, you've done the training and stuff.
00:13:43.995 --> 00:13:53.481
You said you'd experimented with a technique which wasn't quite working for you and really all the video did was it just pointed you back in the right direction, which is what the program, which is what swimsuit is all about.
00:13:53.481 --> 00:14:02.423
It's about working and making sure that the swimming technique works for you as an individual, and that's the same thing with math, and I couldn't fit the big distances and they're wanting to do.
00:14:02.423 --> 00:14:04.467
Just had to get really smart with it.
00:14:05.317 --> 00:14:08.815
Being smart, that that is such a key these days to performing well.
00:14:08.815 --> 00:14:14.086
So, maria, and I love to hear other because, compared to you two.
00:14:14.086 --> 00:14:18.294
So Maria does the ultra distance 12 hour bike races, 24 hour bike.
00:14:18.294 --> 00:14:22.446
She's a world record holder and has been in the 12 hour in the 24.
00:14:22.446 --> 00:14:26.054
So I'm in excruciating pain in a 20 minute race.
00:14:26.054 --> 00:14:34.182
Okay, so that is that's painful to me, but I still love to talk to other endurance athletes about pain.
00:14:34.182 --> 00:14:44.719
So when you Maybe Manhattan was the perfect race, because when you do hit that magical race, which sounds like Manhattan was for you, maybe you didn't have as much pain.
00:14:44.719 --> 00:15:04.708
But talk with us about all these open water swims, these distant swims that you're doing, where you hit that place, where, yeah, you're trying to hold on to your technique, you're trying to keep your mind, but let's talk about that mindset, part of being this champion that you are, and that you know the coach that you are.
00:15:05.476 --> 00:15:21.744
You know, I think, man, if in swimming teachers a big lesson in life, if you like, about keeping going and soldiering on and moving forwards and not looking back and just focusing on the way you're actually heading to, and I think with the marathon swimming events that I've done, man, you're quite right, manhattan did not feel hard at all.
00:15:21.744 --> 00:15:26.663
I it was so weird, it was almost like I was having an out-of-body experience.
00:15:26.663 --> 00:15:31.668
When I was actually swimming it, I People said to me wasn't the water dirty?
00:15:31.668 --> 00:15:32.695
Wasn't it smelly?
00:15:32.695 --> 00:15:33.317
Didn't you?
00:15:33.317 --> 00:15:34.563
Were you worried about getting sick?
00:15:34.563 --> 00:15:36.875
And I was worried about all of those things.
00:15:36.875 --> 00:15:39.461
But I remember the water looking like minty blue.
00:15:39.461 --> 00:15:41.163
He was just weird.
00:15:41.365 --> 00:15:43.418
It was 14 degrees Celsius, so what is that?
00:15:43.418 --> 00:15:49.744
56 degrees Fahrenheit and we're on wet suit, so we weren't allowed to wear a wetsuit, or in there for seven hours and a bit.
00:15:49.744 --> 00:15:53.140
And unfortunately, I People said, yeah, was it really hot?
00:15:53.140 --> 00:16:01.149
Can't tell them it was hard, because I actually felt Rillian on that swim, like everything just worked, like teetop basically went really well.
00:16:01.149 --> 00:16:04.720
That being said, of course I've done other swims where it's been terrible.
00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:13.793
I have really gone through the ring, as we call it over here in Australia, and the workouts certainly some of the workouts leading up to it were hard, so how do you manage that?
00:16:13.793 --> 00:16:14.014
Absolutely.
00:16:15.198 --> 00:16:22.022
I got a few friends who say train to, train smart, or train hard so that you can actually feel easy on the day, and that's really what it felt like for Manhattan.
00:16:22.022 --> 00:16:25.303
But it was an event the Montenegro event that I did last year.
00:16:25.303 --> 00:16:26.628
It's really interesting concept.
00:16:26.628 --> 00:16:28.835
So it's it's a four-day event.
00:16:28.835 --> 00:16:32.178
It's called the ultra swim 33.3, so four-day events.
00:16:32.178 --> 00:16:36.575
So it's a little bit like stage race, a little bit like 20 France, if you like, and I went over there.
00:16:36.575 --> 00:16:37.479
It was the inaugural event.
00:16:37.479 --> 00:16:37.841
Last year.
00:16:37.841 --> 00:16:43.152
They'd asked me to coach everybody who was who I was gonna race against, which was an interesting concept.
00:16:43.152 --> 00:16:43.914
So we rock up there.
00:16:43.914 --> 00:16:50.965
There was, I think there was about 50 people racing and I had to do a video analysis session with every single person.
00:16:50.965 --> 00:16:51.966
That's part of their entry.
00:16:51.966 --> 00:16:58.414
So over the four days I was actually racing, I was actually coaching 15 16 people a day as well.
00:16:58.414 --> 00:17:15.842
So we do the races morning enough to work for eight or nine, ten hours back to back to do the stroke correction with them, but unfortunately it left me feeling Absolutely terrible during that four four-day swim and the bad feeling in terms of the physical bad feeling that I had just the back to my mind and just thought gotta just keep going here.
00:17:15.842 --> 00:17:19.153
One stroke, one stroke, one stroke, one stroke, one stroke after the next.
00:17:19.153 --> 00:17:20.478
Basically a little bit Like Dory.
00:17:20.478 --> 00:17:23.535
I know everyone uses a terminology just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
00:17:23.535 --> 00:17:24.998
But it's absolutely true.
00:17:24.998 --> 00:17:30.709
And is it life like that is keeping soldiering on, moving forwards and making sure you're not looking backwards.
00:17:31.576 --> 00:17:32.420
Yeah, I love that.
00:17:32.420 --> 00:17:38.607
And so that self-talk literally is one stroke, one stroke, one stroke.
00:17:39.336 --> 00:17:40.662
Yeah, yeah, even for Manhattan.
00:17:40.662 --> 00:17:43.086
So Manhattan was freezing cold.
00:17:43.086 --> 00:17:47.086
He was on seasonably cold, but I hate getting into cold water just like anybody else.
00:17:47.086 --> 00:17:51.330
But I have I seem to have this sort of natural affinity once I'm in there and working well with it.
00:17:51.330 --> 00:17:56.887
So I've been and I couldn't focus on anything else other than just one stroke, the next.
00:17:56.887 --> 00:17:58.686
I've got a little mantra within swimsuit.
00:17:58.686 --> 00:18:02.969
I call it bubble breathe, which is just basically focus on your exhalation underneath the water.
00:18:02.969 --> 00:18:05.461
And people said to me how did you win that race?
00:18:05.461 --> 00:18:06.085
What did you do?
00:18:06.085 --> 00:18:07.815
And I said I was just thinking what did you do with technique?
00:18:07.815 --> 00:18:11.490
I was just saying bubble, bubble breathe, bubble, bubble breathe.
00:18:11.490 --> 00:18:12.355
And I think I worked it out.
00:18:12.355 --> 00:18:14.403
I said that 36,000 times.
00:18:14.403 --> 00:18:16.318
That's all I did.
00:18:16.318 --> 00:18:16.701
That's it.
00:18:16.701 --> 00:18:23.085
There's no, no magic to it, sort of being just literally Consistently saying the same thing over and over again.
00:18:24.135 --> 00:18:27.345
Maria, you're loving bubble bubble breathe, aren't you aren't?
00:18:27.345 --> 00:18:32.301
So, paul, maria is a new swimmer and you, she.
00:18:32.301 --> 00:18:39.625
I want her to ask you some new swimmer questions because so her very first swim race she's ever done.
00:18:39.625 --> 00:18:42.815
Remember, she's married to my brother, who is a great swimmer.
00:18:42.815 --> 00:18:46.474
Okay, he's sure he's a great swimmer, just excellent swimmer.
00:18:46.474 --> 00:18:55.162
We convinced Maria to do her first masters us masters race, which just happened to be our US national championship.
00:18:55.717 --> 00:18:56.500
You can do this.
00:18:56.882 --> 00:19:00.154
It's a two mile cable swim in Lake Placid.
00:19:00.154 --> 00:19:04.703
Oh, this was her first race and she did it.
00:19:04.703 --> 00:19:07.157
She, she did the race.
00:19:07.157 --> 00:19:15.777
But so a swimmer like Maria, who really is her technique, is Uncoached.
00:19:15.777 --> 00:19:19.884
She just is like somebody who Does triathlons.
00:19:19.884 --> 00:19:27.587
She swims in a triathlon and so when Jim and I look at her, we try to help her with general stuff.
00:19:27.587 --> 00:19:35.759
But if you were going to give some advice to just our listeners that are triathletes, or to Maria I love bubble bubble breathe.
00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:36.785
Is there anything else?
00:19:37.721 --> 00:19:43.053
Well, bubble bubble breathe is really useful because it just focuses and you sense as you're on one thing that you can control.
00:19:43.053 --> 00:19:48.653
So I like the idea and the concept with the bubble bubble breathe because it's just super, super simple.
00:19:48.653 --> 00:20:01.008
When people are nervous and anxious, the first thing they do is they tend to hold onto their breath, like this basically, and what they tend to do is they're going to a little bit of panic and they'll be going to take a breath in, but they'll still be blowing out when they should be breathing in.
00:20:01.008 --> 00:20:07.347
So just like getting them, say, bubble bubble in the water silly as that sounds it just helps you really focus on that rhythm.
00:20:07.347 --> 00:20:23.790
Another couple of little tips that I like, especially for new listeners, especially in the open water, is one if you're going to be wearing a wet suit, for example, a lot of people put these wet suits on and they don't spend the time putting them on properly, they don't pull them up properly over their shoulders and they tend to feel really quite tight and rigid.
00:20:23.790 --> 00:20:28.791
Wet suits should feel very nice and actually help you improve your swimming with the buoyancy, etc.
00:20:28.791 --> 00:20:33.705
But if you don't take the time to actually pull it on properly over the shoulders, we've got a really useful video on that.
00:00:01.423 --> 00:00:06.232
00:00:06.232 --> 00:00:13.769
00:00:15.843 --> 00:00:19.268
00:00:19.268 --> 00:00:23.989
00:00:23.989 --> 00:00:31.809
00:00:31.809 --> 00:00:38.270
00:00:38.270 --> 00:00:50.104
00:00:50.104 --> 00:00:53.188
00:00:53.188 --> 00:01:10.204
00:01:10.204 --> 00:01:17.653
00:01:17.653 --> 00:01:19.686
00:01:20.266 --> 00:01:29.528
00:01:29.528 --> 00:01:36.084
00:01:36.084 --> 00:01:42.683
00:01:42.683 --> 00:01:43.647
00:01:43.647 --> 00:01:50.992
00:01:50.992 --> 00:01:52.013
00:01:52.013 --> 00:01:53.745
00:01:53.745 --> 00:01:55.284
00:01:56.061 --> 00:01:57.246
00:01:57.246 --> 00:01:58.644
00:01:58.644 --> 00:01:59.365
00:02:00.147 --> 00:02:00.870
00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:04.728
00:02:04.728 --> 00:02:07.106
00:02:07.106 --> 00:02:19.804
00:02:19.804 --> 00:02:22.508
00:02:22.508 --> 00:02:32.813
00:02:32.813 --> 00:02:35.788
00:02:35.788 --> 00:02:41.764
00:02:41.764 --> 00:02:44.247
00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:46.366
00:02:46.366 --> 00:02:47.248
00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:49.804
00:02:49.804 --> 00:02:57.674
00:02:57.674 --> 00:03:01.051
00:03:01.051 --> 00:03:04.884
00:03:04.884 --> 00:03:14.730
00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:23.074
00:03:23.074 --> 00:03:30.231
00:03:30.231 --> 00:03:35.612
00:03:35.612 --> 00:03:37.507
00:03:37.507 --> 00:03:40.407
00:03:40.407 --> 00:03:48.871
00:03:48.871 --> 00:03:50.526
00:03:50.819 --> 00:04:04.658
00:04:04.658 --> 00:04:10.567
00:04:10.567 --> 00:04:13.343
00:04:13.343 --> 00:04:16.865
00:04:16.865 --> 00:04:23.161
00:04:23.161 --> 00:04:25.682
00:04:25.682 --> 00:04:28.877
00:04:28.877 --> 00:04:30.684
00:04:30.684 --> 00:04:33.742
00:04:34.516 --> 00:04:35.278
00:04:35.278 --> 00:04:36.382
00:04:36.382 --> 00:04:39.975
00:04:39.975 --> 00:04:44.639
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:48.855
00:04:48.855 --> 00:04:55.040
00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:01.781
00:05:01.781 --> 00:05:04.084
00:05:04.084 --> 00:05:07.295
00:05:07.295 --> 00:05:09.223
00:05:09.223 --> 00:05:10.439
00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:16.480
00:05:17.137 --> 00:05:28.574
00:05:28.574 --> 00:05:40.721
00:05:40.721 --> 00:05:46.144
00:05:46.144 --> 00:05:58.322
00:05:58.322 --> 00:06:01.283
00:06:01.283 --> 00:06:06.040
00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:22.201
00:06:22.201 --> 00:06:29.245
00:06:29.245 --> 00:06:33.343
00:06:33.343 --> 00:06:34.959
00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:37.860
00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:45.314
00:06:45.314 --> 00:06:47.134
00:06:47.276 --> 00:06:50.095
00:06:50.095 --> 00:06:55.846
00:06:55.846 --> 00:06:57.656
00:06:57.656 --> 00:07:03.346
00:07:03.346 --> 00:07:08.095
00:07:08.095 --> 00:07:15.783
00:07:15.783 --> 00:07:17.754
00:07:17.754 --> 00:07:19.581
00:07:19.581 --> 00:07:28.293
00:07:28.293 --> 00:07:43.505
00:07:43.795 --> 00:07:51.504
00:07:51.504 --> 00:07:53.420
00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:58.461
00:07:58.461 --> 00:08:00.081
00:08:00.081 --> 00:08:01.762
00:08:01.762 --> 00:08:03.502
00:08:03.502 --> 00:08:05.141
00:08:05.141 --> 00:08:06.634
00:08:06.634 --> 00:08:09.560
00:08:10.074 --> 00:08:18.944
00:08:18.944 --> 00:08:33.390
00:08:33.390 --> 00:08:41.284
00:08:41.284 --> 00:08:44.544
00:08:44.544 --> 00:08:46.571
00:08:46.571 --> 00:08:49.563
00:08:49.563 --> 00:08:54.764
00:08:54.764 --> 00:09:02.121
00:09:02.121 --> 00:09:14.500
00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:22.546
00:09:22.546 --> 00:09:26.544
00:09:26.957 --> 00:09:37.960
00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:47.682
00:09:47.682 --> 00:09:58.585
00:09:58.585 --> 00:10:01.355
00:10:01.355 --> 00:10:07.505
00:10:08.398 --> 00:10:32.554
00:10:32.554 --> 00:10:36.490
00:10:37.296 --> 00:10:37.856
00:10:37.856 --> 00:10:43.729
00:10:43.729 --> 00:10:47.263
00:10:47.263 --> 00:10:54.827
00:10:54.868 --> 00:11:02.394
00:11:02.394 --> 00:11:05.434
00:11:05.434 --> 00:11:11.107
00:11:11.107 --> 00:11:12.163
00:11:12.163 --> 00:11:13.115
00:11:13.115 --> 00:11:16.024
00:11:16.024 --> 00:11:20.414
00:11:20.434 --> 00:11:24.490
00:11:24.490 --> 00:11:25.734
00:11:25.734 --> 00:11:37.724
00:11:37.724 --> 00:11:50.205
00:11:51.056 --> 00:11:54.866
00:11:54.866 --> 00:11:58.274
00:11:58.274 --> 00:12:04.942
00:12:04.942 --> 00:12:18.658
00:12:18.658 --> 00:12:23.250
00:12:23.331 --> 00:12:34.740
00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:36.524
00:12:36.524 --> 00:12:42.506
00:12:43.298 --> 00:12:45.654
00:12:45.654 --> 00:12:51.134
00:12:51.134 --> 00:12:55.971
00:12:56.011 --> 00:12:56.975
00:12:56.975 --> 00:13:06.674
00:13:06.674 --> 00:13:08.681
00:13:08.681 --> 00:13:11.860
00:13:11.860 --> 00:13:13.104
00:13:13.104 --> 00:13:13.625
00:13:13.995 --> 00:13:29.687
00:13:29.708 --> 00:13:37.761
00:13:37.761 --> 00:13:40.967
00:13:40.967 --> 00:13:43.995
00:13:43.995 --> 00:13:53.481
00:13:53.481 --> 00:14:02.423
00:14:02.423 --> 00:14:04.467
00:14:05.317 --> 00:14:08.815
00:14:08.815 --> 00:14:14.086
00:14:14.086 --> 00:14:18.294
00:14:18.294 --> 00:14:22.446
00:14:22.446 --> 00:14:26.054
00:14:26.054 --> 00:14:34.182
00:14:34.182 --> 00:14:44.719
00:14:44.719 --> 00:15:04.708
00:15:05.476 --> 00:15:21.744
00:15:21.744 --> 00:15:26.663
00:15:26.663 --> 00:15:31.668
00:15:31.668 --> 00:15:32.695
00:15:32.695 --> 00:15:33.317
00:15:33.317 --> 00:15:34.563
00:15:34.563 --> 00:15:36.875
00:15:36.875 --> 00:15:39.461
00:15:39.461 --> 00:15:41.163
00:15:41.365 --> 00:15:43.418
00:15:43.418 --> 00:15:49.744
00:15:49.744 --> 00:15:53.140
00:15:53.140 --> 00:16:01.149
00:16:01.149 --> 00:16:04.720
00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:13.793
00:16:13.793 --> 00:16:14.014
00:16:15.198 --> 00:16:22.022
00:16:22.022 --> 00:16:25.303
00:16:25.303 --> 00:16:26.628
00:16:26.628 --> 00:16:28.835
00:16:28.835 --> 00:16:32.178
00:16:32.178 --> 00:16:36.575
00:16:36.575 --> 00:16:37.479
00:16:37.479 --> 00:16:37.841
00:16:37.841 --> 00:16:43.152
00:16:43.152 --> 00:16:43.914
00:16:43.914 --> 00:16:50.965
00:16:50.965 --> 00:16:51.966
00:16:51.966 --> 00:16:58.414
00:16:58.414 --> 00:17:15.842
00:17:15.842 --> 00:17:19.153
00:17:19.153 --> 00:17:20.478
00:17:20.478 --> 00:17:23.535
00:17:23.535 --> 00:17:24.998
00:17:24.998 --> 00:17:30.709
00:17:31.576 --> 00:17:32.420
00:17:32.420 --> 00:17:38.607
00:17:39.336 --> 00:17:40.662
00:17:40.662 --> 00:17:43.086
00:17:43.086 --> 00:17:47.086
00:17:47.086 --> 00:17:51.330
00:17:51.330 --> 00:17:56.887
00:17:56.887 --> 00:17:58.686
00:17:58.686 --> 00:18:02.969
00:18:02.969 --> 00:18:05.461
00:18:05.461 --> 00:18:06.085
00:18:06.085 --> 00:18:07.815
00:18:07.815 --> 00:18:11.490
00:18:11.490 --> 00:18:12.355
00:18:12.355 --> 00:18:14.403
00:18:14.403 --> 00:18:16.318
00:18:16.318 --> 00:18:16.701
00:18:16.701 --> 00:18:23.085
00:18:24.135 --> 00:18:27.345
00:18:27.345 --> 00:18:32.301
00:18:32.301 --> 00:18:39.625
00:18:39.625 --> 00:18:42.815
00:18:42.815 --> 00:18:46.474
00:18:46.474 --> 00:18:55.162
00:18:55.717 --> 00:18:56.500
00:18:56.882 --> 00:19:00.154
00:19:00.154 --> 00:19:04.703
00:19:04.703 --> 00:19:07.157
00:19:07.157 --> 00:19:15.777
00:19:15.777 --> 00:19:19.884
00:19:19.884 --> 00:19:27.587
00:19:27.587 --> 00:19:35.759
00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:36.785
00:19:37.721 --> 00:19:43.053
00:19:43.053 --> 00:19:48.653
00:19:48.653 --> 00:20:01.008
00:20:01.008 --> 00:20:07.347
00:20:07.347 --> 00:20:23.790
00:20:23.790 --> 00:20:28.791
00:20:28.791 --> 00:20:33.705